By a "parasite" I do not mean merely an "unproductive" member of society. The two categories often overlap, but they are not identical. An unproductive person -- i.e., someone whose activities contribute little of measurable value -- is not necessarily parasitical. A friend recently reminded me of a lovely observation from Milan Kundera: "To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring -- it was peace." Sitting with a dog, literally or figuratively, is essentially unproductive, but it harms no one, and perhaps even benefits others indirectly as a reminder of the spiritual life, and particularly of the fact that the value of an action cannot always be measured by its usefulness to other people -- a lesson individualists would do well to keep in mind. (Propaganda against the "unproductive" is precisely the means to the death panels of socialized medicine, as collectivism assumes that a productive man's value is exhausted when his contribution to "society" ceases.)
No, a social parasite is not, strictly speaking, a "loafer" or a "charity case." Loafing is a man's free choice; charity is yours. A parasite, on the other hand, is a person who demands -- and what is more, who believes -- that others must provide for him what he cannot provide, or chooses not to provide, for himself.
